Strong performance in provinces and cities have propelled mainland China’s lottery sales in the first quarter of 2017.

Official data from the country’s Ministry of Finance showed that mainland China’s total sales from official lottery products jumped 4.9 percent year-on-year in the first three months ending March 21 to reach an estimated RMB95.25 billion (US$13.84 billion). Welfare lottery sales was also up 3.5 percent year-on-year to RMB51.34 billion, while sports lottery sales climbed 6.6 percent year-on-year to reach RMB43.91 billion.

For the month of March, the domestic lottery saw its sales rose 6.3 percent year-on-year to RMB37.9 billion (US$5.5 billion), while welfare lottery ticket sales increased 3.8 percent year-on-year to RMB19.8 billion. Sales of sports lottery tickets went up 9.2 percent to reach RMB18.1 billion.

March’s figures mark the second month that the domestic sector saw a turnaround from January’s dismal numbers. Two months ago, lottery sales in China dropped 10.7 percent due to the timing of the New Year holiday, which began in late January.